worldskills

WorldSkills is a competition that takes place every two years. It brings together young people under the age of 25 from across the world to compete for medals as the best of the best in their chosen skill. It is considered the international "Olympics" for vocational skills. The next WorldSkills is the 41st. It takes place in the UK, from 5th -9th October, at ExCeL, London.  It is known as "WorldSkills London 2011".

The UK previously hosted the WorldSkills Competition in 1965 in Glasgow, and in 1989 in Birmingham.

About Team UK

Team UK is made up of 43 competitors aged 18-25.  One member of the team is David Bowen, an 18 year old studying who is studying web design at Coleg Sir Gâr. 

WorldSkills London 2011

WorldSkills London 2011 will bring together 1,000 competitors under 25 years from over 50 countries/regions to compete in 46 separate skills competitions. Around 150,000 people are expected to attend, including well over 800 from Wales. The 46 medal categories cover the following seven sectors:

• Health, Public Services and Care
Agriculture, Horticulture and Animal Care
• Engineering and Manufacturing Technologies
• Construction, Planning and the Built Environment
• Information and Communications Technology
• Retail and Commercial Enterprise
• Arts, Media and Publishing

Every community and business in the UK thrives on skills, enterprise and inspiration and the WorldSkills London 2011 team is working to make sure that the competition acts as a catalyst to spark the ambitions not just of competitors but of people across the country. Visitors to the event will discover how skills shape our world, get the chance to Have a Go at a wide range of skills activities, and have an opportunity to talk to a range of experts about future career options and opportunities. To find out more, visit: www.worldskillslondon2011.com.

In 2009, WorldSkills was held in Calgary, Canada, where the UK team notched up an impressive 7th position out of the 46 countries that took part.

Two highly skilled Welshmen were members of the 26-strong UK team and they both performed to worldclass standards:

• Cliff Williams, a self-employed carpenter from Talley in Carmarthenshire who trained at Coleg Sir Gar and served an apprenticeship with Anthony Rees Building, and
• Dean Jones, a mechanic from Swansea who studied at Coleg Gwent and completed his Apprenticeship with Mercedes-Benz.